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Consider Afghanistan and a few things are likely to spring to mind. Terrorism. Kidnappings. Tanks. The Taliban. Turn the clock back a few decades, however, and you’ll find a long forgotten side to the country, one that involves budget hostels filled with stoned hippies.

As inconceivable as it is today, war-torn Afghanistan was once an essential stop on the backpacker route (dubbed the “hippie trail” or “overland”) across Asia, notable for its gorgeous capital - dubbed the “Paris of the East” - and the ease in which travellers could score a little marijuana.

The classic Hippie TrailCredit:
NordNordWest/Wikicommons

The nation’s previous life is perfectly illustrated in Lonely Planet’s first ever guidebook, Across Asia on the Cheap, published in 1973, just five years before instability took hold of the country and discarded it from the travel map.

“Weed, of course, is the big seller in Afghanistan; so long as you only buy in small amounts you’re extremely unlikely to run afoul of the law,” writes the author, and Lonely Planet’s co-founder, Tony Wheeler. “Have your last drag before you get to the Iranian border.” The tacit green light it gives to buying drugs is remarkable - these days its books contain nothing but firm warnings about hefty prison sentences.

An amusing anecdote from Wheeler hammers home the point.

“We rolled up to the Afghanistan border at Islam Q’ala and could find no sign of officialdom,” he writes. “Eventually we found a group of rather stoned looking Americans sitting on the floor in one building. ‘Where’s everyone?’ we asked, and got the obvious answer ‘gone for lunch’. ‘How long have you been here’ we asked - ‘about six hours’. ‘Good grief what have you been doing all that time?’ - ‘blowing a little dope with customs’. Of course.”

Kabul in 1970Credit:
GETTY

Besides weed, Afghanistan’s big draw - excuse the pun - was Kabul. So popular was it in 1973 that Lonely Planet fretted about it becoming a “tourist trap”. Highlights included the city’s markets, parks and gardens. “Use it as a place to wander about, talk and rest in,” suggested Wheeler.

The best place to stay was the Mustafa, according to the guide – “new and built around a central courtyard more like a college residence than a hotel. It’s slightly expensive by Afghani standards at 60 Afs for a double”. That’s around 60p today (or £6.90 when you consider inflation). The best place to eat was the Khyber restaurant, where apple pie was the speciality.

A poster advertising flights to the country. In 1973 Lonely Planet feared Kabul was becoming a tourist trapCredit:
GETTY

Beyond the capital, the highlights were - naturally for hippies - the great Buddhist monuments in the valley of Bamiyan (reduced to rubble by the Taliban in 2001) and Herat - “small, provincial, relatively green and a nice lazy place to lie about in” - where one was advised to buy clothes. “Get an Afghan suit made up, in bright colours instead of Afghani grey-white and with western style trousers. They cost about 150 to 200 Afs (about £1.80) and are very cool to wear. A big, cheerful German had a bright red suit made up, which he brought back to the hotel and put on to show us. All the Afghanis lounging around proceeded to roll around clutching their stomachs with laughter. Beyond us until one of them explained that no ‘man’ would wear red!”

A recent photo of HeratCredit:
GETTY

But above all Wheeler trumpets the Afghan people. “Proud and noble… how else can you describe them, they clearly realise that no amount of money or material possessions could ever compensate for your unfortunate handicap of not being born in their fine country.”

Kabul locals in the SeventiesCredit:
GETTY

The guide does offer a few words of warning. “Banditry still runs in many veins,” it says.

Upset tummies are to be expected too. “Afghanistan is one place where the food is almost bound to get you. We went to bed on our last night… congratulating ourselves on having avoided trouble the whole time we were there, only to wake up in the morning feeling sick as dogs. The last meal did it! The bus ride over the Khyber Pass is not recommended on a queasy stomach.”

It adds: “Hygiene in the Afghan bakeries is not all one could ask, but many of them can supply extras like hash cookies.”

Travel could be arduous too, with long journeys between key sights. The guide says: “Toll booths are usually marked by a sleepy soldier guarding a pole over the road. You park and in one of the huts find an equally sleepy toll collector. Wake him up and he’ll write out a ticket - it’s probably worth bargaining on the toll!”

Today, of course, Afghanistan is off-limits to travellers. The Foreign Office advises Britons against visiting, due to the high chance of terrorism and kidnapping. “Hotels and guesthouses used by foreign nationals and the government of Afghanistan are subject to regular threats,” it says. “The level of consular assistance the British Embassy can provide to travellers in Afghanistan is extremely limited.”

But that’s not to say some people don’t go there anyway. Wild Frontiers, the adventure travel specialist, is advertising a 12-day “Afghan Explorer” itinerary that features Kabul, Herat, the lakes of Band-e Amir, and the beautiful Panjshir Valley, but notes that departures for 2018 and 2019 are being reviewed due to security concerns.

Band-e AmirCredit:
GETTY

Hinterland Travel, meanwhile, has a jaunt called “The Retreat” pencilled in for this year – a 14-day odyssey which will retrace the route between Kabul and Jalalabad taken by some 16,500 British and Indian soldiers, their support staff and families in 1842 – all of whom were slaughtered by Afghan troops.

“Afghanistan is an incredible country,” Geoff Hann, the man behind Hinterland, told Telegraph Travel last year. “A truly remarkable place for travel.” He readily conceded, however, that to see it is a process fraught with pitfalls, and reliant on official support which can be withdrawn at any time. “The moment you have a tour organised, and it all looks OK, the government in Kabul can put the clappers on it,” he adds. “You never quite know if a trip will go ahead.

“The trouble with ‘The Retreat’ is that the security situation keeps changing. The tour is always problematic because it runs through Taliban country, and you have to get permission to go. This year, who knows?”